Financial Fitness

            Sound financial advice can be summarized with two important concepts:  (1) financial discipline and (2) opportunity cost.  Finance is a term that terrorizes people who do not understand what it represents, but finance only signifies an understanding of how to manage money.  Therefore, I will help you comprehend how you can manage your money so that you begin to appreciate finance.

First, most of us in our American culture are incapable of financial discipline.  We live in a society where people who constantly buy what they want, consistently lack what they need.  To be financially secure and avoid stress, heartache, debt, suffering, and all of the other ailments caused by terrible spending habits, you must learn financial discipline:  Stop spending more than you have, save more money, stop taking on debt, do not neglect retirement, and stop buying the newest gadget—you don’t need it (Daily Finance, 2014).

Second, “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.”  No matter what you decide to do with your time right now, something else could have been an alternative.  “Opportunity cost” is the phrase that defines the alternative to every decision you and I make.  If I choose to study finance, then I am neglecting every other major.  A good amount of time should be spent researching all of our opportunities, or we will become a victim of circumstantial decision-making (Kennon, 2014).

I now hope that you can appreciate finance for the difficult subject that it can be, while at the same time understanding the simplicity of managing money.  Do not ignore the advice given in this article; though simple, it will have good consequences that reach far into the future.

References

Daily Finance. (2014). 10 reasons why you'll never be rich. Retrieved from http://www.dailyfinance.com/photos/10-reasons-youll-never-be-rich/?utm_source=crowdignite.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign
=crowdignite.com#!slide=2118865

Kennon, J. (2014). There's no such thing as a free lunch. Retrieved from http://beginnersinvest.about.com/od/Opportunity-Cost/a/There-Is-No-Such-Thing-As-A-Free-Lunch-Opportunity-Cost.htm

Employable Personalities

Plenty of articles have attempted to create a detailed list of employable characteristics, but I will attempt to emphasize dependability and exceeding expectations as the two most important qualities anyone with or without a job should strive to develop.  These qualities, if sought after, will redefine an individual as someone who can be trusted with responsibility and possibly a promotion. 

In my experience as an employed individual, I know that employers search for dependability.  Of the many traits that define dependability, I identify the most important to be good work ethic.   Good work ethic can be defined by the capacity to which an employer can rely on an employee (Ylisela, 2014, para. 3).  An efficient manager will not have time to babysit his employees.  The manager should be spending his precious time building value for the company.  Therefore, an employee who has a good work ethic and is determined to be dependable by an employer stands out from the rest (J. Sheets, personal communication, September 26, 2014).

Employers naturally set expectations as they hire individuals, but rarely do those individuals exceed those expectations.  Take the time and make the effort to excel at the task given you, no matter how important you perceive it to be.  Mediocre employees merely fulfill the minimal requirements that their position demands.  While employees who strive to exceed expectations stand out from their dismal counterparts (Nichols, 2014).

Mastering dependability and exceeding expectations are flawless ways of standing out among coworkers.  Employee dependability gives employers the trust they need to delegate responsibility.  Meanwhile, if an employee consistently exceeds expectations, then an employer will be more likely to refer that employee to new opportunities.  Furthermore, focusing on perfecting two characteristics is easier than focusing on ten.

References

Nichols, S. (2014). 10 ways to meet and exceed your boss's expectations. Retrieved September 25, 2014, from Kforce: https://www.kforce.com/resource-center/career-articles/meet-and-exceed-expectations.aspx

Ylisela, M. (2014). Example of dependability in the workplace. (Online, Ed.) Houston, Texas.